Providers and keys

SignalScout does not scrape the platforms itself. A data provider runs the search and sends the posts back, and you pay the provider for what it fetches. You bring a key for each provider you want to use.

Which provider fetches which platform

Platform	Providers	Notes
Reddit	ScrapeCreators, SocialCrawl	ScrapeCreators has a free tier with no card.
X	SocialCrawl, SocialData	SocialData is prepaid.
LinkedIn	Apify	The only one that finds a post an hour old.
YouTube	ScrapeCreators, SocialCrawl
TikTok	ScrapeCreators, SocialCrawl
Instagram	SocialCrawl	Comments cost more than posts. See costs.

Start small. One Reddit provider and one AI model key already give you a working product. A platform with no key simply cannot be ticked on the monitor form.

One key covers every platform its provider fetches. A SocialCrawl key serves five platforms, so you paste it once and rotate it once.

Where a key goes

You can put a key in one of two places:

In .env

SCRAPECREATORS_API_KEY=   # Reddit, YouTube, TikTok
SOCIALCRAWL_API_KEY=      # Reddit, X, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram
SOCIALDATA_API_KEY=''     # X. Keep the quotes: the key can contain a "|"
APIFY_API_TOKEN=          # LinkedIn

Run docker compose up -d after you change .env, so the containers read it.

On the Connections screen

Open Providers in the sidebar, then Manage connections. Press Connect beside the provider, paste the key, and press Test connection. The test asks the provider whether the key works, and it costs nothing. Then press Save key. The key is encrypted with your ENCRYPTION_KEY before it is stored.

Someone else registered on your instance?

With sign-up open, the keys in .env are not shared with other accounts. Each person pastes their own. Accounts and sign-up explains why.

Two providers for one platform

If you hold keys for two providers of the same platform, SignalScout does not pick one for you. The Connections screen asks you once and remembers your answer. Until you answer, a poll for that platform refuses to start, because a guess would spend money at a provider you did not choose.

A collection that is already running finishes at the provider that started it, even if you change your choice in the middle.

About the providers

Your data arrives through a company that is not the platform. You accept that provider's terms, not the platform's, and those terms put the responsibility for how you use the data on you. We would rather say that here than let you find it in an agreement you did not read.